‘Cruel’ OAP rapist showed no remorse for his crime

She told the sitting in Antrim Crown Court: “Mr Johnston is without doubt a troubled individual but not only is he dangerous, he is cruel and has little empathy with his victims”.

Judge Philpott said that, while in custody, Johnston had made little effort to co-operate with the authorities, had refused one-to-one counselling and had shown no remorse.

Judge Philpott stated also that Johnston has yet to explain the reason behind the rape.

“I regard the fact that he has to-date, not made any response to any treatment or given any explanation for his behaviour, except that he can’t remember, as another aggravating factor,” she said.

Rejecting defence arguments that Johnston should not receive the discretionary life term, Judge Philpott said, in her view, it did warrant such a sentence not only to punish, but to deter the defendant and others in the future.

She said: “There must be a mark that sets out that courts will not tolerate the abuse of elderly people in their own homes”.

As part of his sentence Johnston was also put on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely, and also will be subject to a Sex Offenders Prevention Order until the court deems otherwise.

Johnston had only been out of prison three days when, in the early hours of August 14, 2010, he entered the pensioner’s home, raping her at knife-point, despite her pleas for mercy.

Last month, when Johnston finally pleaded guilty, Judge Philpott heard that he was previously convicted of raping his own elderly aunt in 2005.

Johnston was initially released in January 2010, but ordered back to prison within two months for breaching his parole.

But just three days after being freed again, Johnston went and “banged on the elderly woman’s door” at 4am.

As she made her way downstairs she found Johnston outside her home, but he managed to get into the house.

Once inside, Johnston grabbed her arms and ordered her upstairs at knife-point.

Johnston then raped her. Afterwards he ordered her to dress and never to report it to the police.

However the traumatised pensioner confided in a neighbour and police were called. They later recovered Johnston’s DNA profile not only from the bed sheets and duvet, but also from the victim herself.

When arrested Johnston remained silent throughout the majority of his interviewing while claiming: “I never raped anybody.”

He did admit that beforehand he had prepared himself, telling detectives: “I always keep myself clean and shave.”

Despite Johnston’s sentence, for his victim, life will never be the same.

According to a victim impact report, while attempting to cope by “downplaying the incident”, the robust pensioner, “is unlikely to get back to the person she was before the incident and is at risk of suffering from clinical depression”